1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for the control of a pasteurizing process.
In greater detail, such an apparatus checks the temperature to which the product to be pasteurized is subjected during the emergency stop periods of the conveyor inside a pasteurizer so that the product is not impaired.
The concerned apparatus is designed to be applied to the middle area of a pasteurizer where the real pasteurizing process occurs, said process being particularly connected with the treatment of beer contained in bottles or cans.
2. Prior Art
It is known that said middle area in the pasteurizer is located downstream of a heating area where temperature becomes increasingly higher and upstream of a subsequent cooling area. The bottled product is carried through the various areas of the pasteurizer having different temperatures by means of a conveyor provided with a feed motion. The temperature of the bottled product is modified by spraying water coming from a series of sprayers onto the bottles arranged on the conveyor. Said sprayers are fed from pipelines drawing the water from the tanks located underneath the conveyor and in which the water temperature is kept within predetermined values by suitable heating means.
It is known that in case of an emergency stop of the conveyor (due for example to the occurence of a critical situation downstream), the temperature of the water sprayed onto the bottles in the pasteurizer's middle area (where said temperature reaches the highest values) must be lowered in order to avoid the bottled product being damaged. Practically the temperature must become lower than the pasteurization temperature which is slightly higher than 60.degree. C., and must be held underneath the above value as far as the emergency period goes on.
Presently, in accordance with the known art, the temperature decrease is carried out by introducing cold water coming from the waterworks into the tanks feeding the sprayers while hot water is at the same time evacuated, for well-apparent balancing purposes.
The above operation involves a two fold drawback, namely there is a water waste and energy is lost in the form of hot water.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The main object of the present invention is to eliminate the above drawback by providing an apparatus for the temperature control during the emergency periods in a pasteurizing apparatus which allows the use of recycle water, so that it is no longer necessary to draw cold water from the waterworks and evacuate hot water which is then thrown away.
The foregoing and further objects are attained by an apparatus for the control of a pasteurizing process, designed to be applied to the middle area of a pasteurizer, located downstream of a heating area from which bottles of product carried by a conveyor come, and upstream of a bottle cooling area, in which middle area provision is made for four tanks containing water at differentiated temperatures which feed an equal number of sprayers located above the bottles in movement, the two middle tanks being each divided into two chambers separated by an upright partition, the first chamber of each group being covered with a sloping shed and being provided with a water recycle pipeline, pipelines equipped with respective pumps being also provided for suitably connecting the various tanks to one another and to the sprayers located above the bottles. In the event that the conveyor should undergo an emergency stop, the bottles that at the moment are in the area having the highest temperature are automatically sprayed with water at a lower temperature coming from the corresponding tanks whereas the high temperature is maintained in the tanks having the highest temperature until the emergency state is over.